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BRC-28 by John W. Barriger III National Railroad Library

Barriger’s Bloomington

Above are two images taken from nearly the same spot, some thirty odd years apart. This is along the Monon, and former Monon (L&N), respectively; both show a view, looking NNE in downtown Bloomington, Indiana.

The first was made in the 1940s by a photographer who traveled with the President of the line at the time, John W. Barriger III. The second was taken by myself in the mid-to late-1970s; the Louisville & Nashville had subsumed the Monon by the time I was able to photograph it.

While the second image shows that there was only a tiny cinder block building to serve as a make-shift Amtrak station, there had been a beautiful limestone passenger station on the other side of the tracks prior to that. (It was nearly the length of the entire block between 4th and 5th Streets—seen in the Barriger image here; in the second image, a drive-in bank has taken its place.) The Motor Inn, formerly the Graham Hotel, visible in the background, was (and still is) one of the more distinctive buildings in Bloomington.

In the second image, EMD E9A number 408 (formerly of the Milwaukee Road, numbered 201C and later 31C) is in charge of the train this day, March 30th 1977. For more vintage images of the Monon in the 1940s, one can go to this link.